The Hoplite and the Knight
by The Weakest Of Links
Summary: Pyrrha and Jaune were the best of friends, the most stalwart of companions. But after the sacrifice Jaune had made at the school dance, Pyrrha becomes suddenly aware of emotions that she has never felt before...emotions directed at that very friend.
1. Prologue

Pyrrha Nikos isn't a girl that can be flattered with something as insincere as a compliment from a stranger. Gift giving is most certainly appreciated, but she's not so stupid as to not realize that if someone is giving her something, they want something from her in return. No amount of money can sway her loyalties, nor material wealth, nor ceaseless fawning.

Granted, some fawning would be graciously accepted if she was just approachable enough to attract such talk, and she only received gifts from corporations that wished for the favor of a renowned warrior, but still, the point stands that wooing her isn't so much as a process as it is an impossibility.

Sufficed to say that she isn't a normal human girl who followed social conventions and stigmas.

Now, this isn't to say that she hadn't been somewhat physically attracted to Jaune Arc when she first laid eyes upon him. She might be extraordinary, but that didn't make her exempt from such basic human desires, however subdued they may be. Eyecandy was eyecandy.

And, admittedly, Pyrrha couldn't help but to mentally insert herself into his question of "Where am I supposed to find a nice, quirky girl to talk to?" even if it wasn't technically intentional. She had caught herself looking at him as he walked away, and had ruminated over what her odd lapse in self-discipline has meant. At the time, she'd shrugged it off. She saw herself as a nice and quirky girl and happened to be standing behind a boy who had requested for such a person to converse with, and she had instinctually made a connection in her head, and as far as she figured, that was all it had meant.

…Once again, _at the time._

Then they had met formally in the freshman locker room, in which he had humorously and somewhat pathetically attempted to hit on both her and a girl she had just met, Weiss. When he referred to her as 'hot stuff', Pyrrha had simply disregarded the complement as a product of his bravado. Rather than flattering or offensive, she had found it endearing and funny. Watching him try so hard for the attention of a girl, _any_ girl, had been entertaining to say the least. But, when Weiss had asked of her assistance, she had acted on instinct, and had regrettably speared Jaune to a locker with her trusty javelin.

The incident in the locker room was the most likely explanation as to why Pyrrha had helped Jaune with his fall during initiation. The action practically guaranteed her partnership with the faux knight, as she would have to make eye contact with him in order to retrieve her weapon. Even so, she didn't regret her decision to join up with someone she barely knew.

Why? Because he barely knew her. Weiss seemed nice enough – nice as anybody who had approached her that day with plans of conversation, those people being…well…just Weiss – but Jaune hadn't known her for anything but her publicist's deal with the makers of an unhealthy breakfast cereal. Jaune had made her feel like somewhat of a clear slate, and she embraced the opportunity to obtain a real friend.

And so Pyrrha went on to make one of the most rewarding decisions she would make in her entire life: she became friends with Jaune Arc. Over the course of their time at Beacon, he hadn't always been a stalwart companion to her, but that only made their bonds that much stronger. She had helped him with his problems with Cardin, the fact that her assistance was unbeknownst to him notwithstanding, and had spent months training with him to shape him from an incompetent fighter to a knight who could proudly call himself a hunter in training.

Over time, Pyrrha began to feel different towards Jaune, and her lack of experience in feelings of that nature blinded her to the truth. When Jaune had told Pyrrha of his lack of luck in his attempts at asking Weiss to the dance, something had changed inside Pyrrha. She had nothing against Weiss, and only saw her as a more than competent fighter, as well as her friend, but in that moment, she felt a twinge of jealousy from seemingly nowhere. Words began to flow from her mouth without her mind even comprehending the implications. That there were many fish in the sea, particularly.

And then Jaune had unintentionally targeted a minor insecurity of hers: she was forced to confront that fact that every boy at Beacon was too intimidated by her accomplishments to ask her to the dance. She was a teenager, after all, and the prospect of going to the dance alone seemed a bit dreary, even to her.

Even when she had gone off on him at the dance, when she had told him that she had wished she had gone to the dance with someone like him, she didn't fully understand the extent of what she was saying. It was truthful enough. She just wanted to go to the dance with someone that saw her for her…it just so happened that Jaune was the only person that hope described.

It was only after she had danced with Jaune, who wore a dress simply to fulfill a simple offhanded remark he had made, one that was intended to be to her credit and ended up being at her expense, that she realized the meaning of her choice of words and actions with him.

She had never felt so close to him. She had never been as confident in his pureness of heart and will. She had never wanted so badly for a night to never end. She had never before wanted to never leave the side of a person in her life.

It was foreign. It was exciting. It was terrifying.

 _...It was love._


	2. The Empty Hall

_Pyrrha opened her eyes. What lay before her was an empty hall: two walls, a ceiling, and a floor, all completely void of detail, all dull white and hopeless. In front of her was an impossibly long stretch of nothing but the hall. Behind her was not a wall, but a void, a hollow as black as pitch. She stared into the trench, and felt a fear before unknown to her as the blackness began to move forwards, its dreadful shadow creeping over and taking in the white, empty hall._

 _It was a primal fear that drove Pyrrha forwards, a fear that sent her sprinting down the hall at full tilt, but no matter how fast she ran, the void followed her steadily. She ran for what felt like hours, days, her mind racing but failing to form a comprehensive thought. The darkness began to nip at her heels, the implausible coldness of its grip attempting to enclose her bare feet. Driven, she pushed herself further than she had thought possible._

 _By the time she felt like her legs were going to give out, she saw him: a lanky, bare form in front of her, his shaggy hair glinting like gold. He could have been miles away from her, or inches; distance was nonexistent in the hall. All Pyrrha knew was that he was there, her light in the dark, she the light in his dark. He was facing away from her, away from the void. He wouldn't see it coming._

 _Pyrrha screamed his name at the top of her lungs, trying to get him to turn around to see the danger, to get him to run for his life, to save him like they had saved each other. Her screeches fell on deaf ears. Her legs pumped until her muscles let out bloodcurdling screams of pain, tears formed in her eyes from the exertion…but he pushed her forwards. The sight of him, of his danger, of her ability to save him, to keep him from harm's way, drove her even further than her own wellbeing. Her arms outstretched as she closed in on him, and her legs let out one final howl as she jumped towards him._

 _Her arms passed through his ghostly image, his form expanding and dissipating into the air like dust. She turned in the air, falling onto her back, the final thing her eyes witnessing being the emptiness as it swallowed her, her last thoughts being of who she had failed._

Pyrrha shot up in bed suddenly, her breath short and quick, her eyes wide in terror. Her head whipped around, taking in the dorm room, the sight ensuring her that what she had just experienced was just a nightmare, and that she was safe in her room. The beginnings of daylight permeated the window, dimly lighting the room. Nora was snoring away, her feet laying on her pillow while her head hung off the side of her bed. Ren sleeping stiffly, his back flat against his own bed, his arms at his sides.

Emerald eyes finally took in what they were so desperately searching for. Jaune was sound asleep, in the fetal position, his head resting on folded hands. He faced away from Pyrrha, but she could practically see his dreamy smile in her mind's eye.

Pyrrha let out as controlled of a sigh as she could, making sure to not rouse her teammates. She duly noted that her covers had fallen off of her bed and were now laying unceremoniously on the floor. Had she been trashing in her sleep? She was certainly lucky that her teammates were heavy sleepers…even Ren, surprisingly enough.

The first night after the dance, a mere six hours, at most, after fully realizing her feelings for her best friend, and she had already had a dream about him...or a nightmare, to be more accurate. Pyrrha pulled her legs up to her chest and hugged them tightly, her chin near her knees, her eyes never leaving the back of Jaune's head. She sighed both out of despondence and relief, her breath warming her bare knees. Her long hair, normally tied, now billowed around her body like a drape, the curly red locks pooling around the fabric of her red night shorts.

Pyrrha Nikos was almost invincible. She could best nearly anybody in a fair one on one fight, thanks to her inert talent and battle prowess. Her mind usually carried the same sentiment; she was intelligent, collected, confident, and her emotional walls were not easily toppled.

But in this very moment, looking at the source of her alien and horrifying emotions…

She had never felt more vulnerable.

* * *

 **A/N: Nope, it wasn't a one shot. And no, the chapters aren't always going to be this short or...I dunno...odd. I'm just trying to catch my stride after a long hiatus from writing stories (I used to write a lot of fanfiction for a different site, the specifics of which I ain't telling none of y'all, 'cuz those stories sorta suck, and it wasn't RWBY stuff anyhow). Rest assured, next chapter will longer, as well as the proceeding chapters. So anyways, if you like the story so far, or, preferably, if you despise it, give me some feedback with a review. It really is imperative for me to be faced with criticism (and not praise) to become a better writer. Thanks for reading so far!**


	3. Cage My Mind

A javelin soared through the head of the oncoming hologram before pinning to the wall, causing the opponent to fall to the ground before dissipating into the air. Pyrrha quickly dodged out of the way of the strike of another one of the practice A.I's, blocked another's attack with her shield, and jumped and rolled out of yet another potential blow.

She backed up, giving herself space. The three remaining holograms advanced with weapons outstretched, their blank faces showing no signs of mercy. Pyrrha, with a quick flick of her hand and a bit of focus, magnetically pulled her javelin out of the wall, reverted it to xiphos form, and willed it towards her metal wristband. The sword spun through the air as it advanced towards its owner, cutting through the heads of two of the oncoming holograms. Pyrrha outstretched her hand, grabbed her spinning weapon handle first with practiced skill, and used it to intercept the strike of the remaining hologram.

While holding his blade at bay with her own, she bashed into his head with her shield, causing the hologram to stumble. Given the opportunity to attack, Pyrrha mercilessly battered her sword into its chest, once, twice, three times before stabbing it clean through. The hologram, it's manually programed health depleted, fell back first onto the ground before fizzing out into small sparks of neon blue electricity.

Pyrrha stepped back, breathing heavily. A bead of sweat rolled down her forehead and the bridge of her nose, causing her to reach up to wipe it off in irritation.

" _Round ninety four of artificial solo training completed!_ " A pleasantly neutral and robotic voice rang out of the training hall speakers, its declaration heard by Pyrrha and Pyrrha alone. The entire training hall was empty at this time in the morning. Unable to fall back to sleep, and given that she had no classes until her team left to their mission in a week, Pyrrha saw fit to train.

" _Considering your ninety four consecutive rounds of training, I suggest that you take-_ "the artificial intelligence voiced before Pyrrha interrupted it. She'd heard variations on this message for the past eighty four rounds, after all.

"Activate round ninety five of artificial solo training," Pyrrha tiredly called out, gulping for breath after the request. She held her right shoulder and spun her arm in circles, trying to give her tired muscles a form of reprieve. After stretching back her shoulders and hearing a terribly satisfying crack, she widened her stance and spun her xiphos once in her hand.

" _Are you sure you-_ "

"Yes!" Pyrrha shouted out, long since the point of sharing pleasantries with the glorified school equipment. Not wasting any time, the program generated twenty holograms to surround Pyrrha. Their weapons ranged from war hammers, swords, and maces to submachine guns, revolvers, and shotguns.

Pyrrha didn't even blink.

* * *

Pyrrha held back a scream of pain as a compressed explosion sent her into the wall of the training hall. She tumbled to the floor, her weapon and shield flying from her hands and scattering onto the ground. Bracing her arms beneath herself, she began to push herself back up before her shaky arms gave out. The hologram, a battered and injured brute armed with a machine grenade launcher, aimed its weapon at Pyrrha before fizzing out, the program completed.

" _Round one-hundred and nine of artificial solo training failed!_ " The familiar robotic voice boomed in the same pleasant, neutral tone.

Pyrrha, for her part, said nothing; she was too busy panting and heaving, trying to catch her breath after hours of intensive physical exertion. Once again, she tried to push herself off the floor, but her body just wasn't having it.

However, her mind was far more stubborn. Her muscles would rip and tear before she gave up.

Her palms against the floor, she pushed up for a third time. Her arms shook terribly, her entire body twitching in protest as she slowly but surely raised herself up. She quickly pulled her knee up, giving herself more support as she managed to lock her elbows. Her other knee pulled up, and she hunched forwards, sitting on the heels of her feet and gripping her thighs tightly. She stared down between her legs at the floor, her breath heavy and labored. She had nothing to focus on but her own exhaustion and pain, but when that faded…

…her thoughts of Jaune would return.

"R-Repeat…repeat previou…p-previously failed roun-" Pyrrha began to utter stubbornly before she heard a shout that sparked her dormant mind.

"Pyrrha? Are you in here?"

Her pupils dilated, and her eyes immediately darted towards the source of the call. Standing at the doorway of the training hall was the source of her mental torment, and the indirect source of her physical dilemma: Jaune. He had clearly just woken up, his armor and hoodie looking as if they had been hastily thrown on in a rush. His hair was tussled as well, but he clearly didn't care much about his appearance. Not for Pyrrha. Not for his _friend_.

The look of weariness left his face as his cerulean eyes met Pyrrha's fallen form. He hesitated for a moment in shock before running up to her, leaping onto the stage and kneeling beside her.

"What happened? A-Are you okay?" Jaune asked frantically, panicked at her appearance. Much of her bare skin was blackened and blued. Her entire body shone in sweat, the perspiration flowing in slow rivulets. Her mouth hadn't closed since he had entered, breath being her body's first concern. As for her mind's first concern, it was kneeling less than a foot away from her. Pyrrha turned her head towards her leader and braved a smile. She couldn't decide if it was a real one caused by his intrusion, or a fake one to dissuade him from worry.

"Oh, h-hello Jaune," she said as brightly as she could with her entire body enveloped in a vicious maelstrom of fiery pain. "Good… _huff_ …g-good morning!"

Jaune paid little attention to her stilted reply, instead leaning in and trying to help her up. He put out a gloved hand that she graciously accepted. As he stood, she inwardly screeched at the burning in her legs, but with his support she managed to get to her feet.

"Pyrrha, what happened?" Jaune repeated concernedly, not willing to let his initial question be left unanswered. He let go of Pyrrha's hand, but as soon as he did, her legs began to wobble horribly. He reached down and gripped her hand once again, swiveled his head from left to right as if to find a solution before thinking to get her to a seat. As he led her off the stage, Pyrrha voiced her objection.

"Thank you, Jaune, but...this is…is _completely_ unnecessary," Pyrrha protested between breaths. She was painfully aware that she was completely drenching Jaune's glove in her sweat.

"Weren't you the one who told me to accept help from a friend?" Jaune pointed out, just a bit of his normal humor finally leaking into his voice. Pyrrha didn't have a decent reply to that, and instead remained quiet until she was comfortably seated. She was quiet before realizing that Jaune was still waiting for an answer to his twice stated question. After finally catching her breath, she leaned back in her chair, doing her best to be casual.

"I woke up early this morning, and decided to get in a bit of training," she explained cryptically. It wasn't a lie. It just wasn't the whole truth.

"Don't you think you overdid it a bit?" Jaune asked, looking her up and down, paying particular attention to her dark bruises. Pyrrha followed his eyes, her own widening as she seemed to notice her injuries for the first time. Her armor had taken most of the impact from the practice holograms, but most of her bare skin was spotted with reminders of her rigorous training.

"…I, um, suppose I did." Pyrrha laughed nervously, avoiding eye contact with her leader. "Don't worry, Jaune. I've been through far worse many times."

Her mind was flooding with thoughts of him, her voracious emotions towards him beginning to creep over the pain that she had practically inflicted upon herself for the express purpose of biting those very emotions down. On the battlefield, she was in the moment, not reminiscent. Now she was in the moment as well, but in a completely different way, a way that she was extremely uncomfortable with.

"I'll just take your word for that," Jaune said good-naturedly in an attempt to take her appearance in stride, but couldn't help but hold a glimmer of worry in his eyes. He knew that Pyrrha was a capable person, that she was the last person that needed to be fretted over, and that she definitely didn't want him doting over her for something she wasn't concerned about, but still couldn't let go of his distress for her wellbeing.

She was his _friend_ , after all.

"Uh…you sure you don't want someone to look at those bruises? Or…I dunno, check you for internal bleeding?" He sounded as if he was joking with his added question, but his voice contained just the slightest bit of seriousness.

Pyrrha steadily got to her feet, flashing Jaune a small smile. Her heart had lit up briefly at his voiced concern, but she quickly mentally doused the flames. She walked down the aisle of the student seating and to the steps of the stage.

"Jaune, if I wasn't okay, you'd be the first to know," Pyrrha called out.

Both a lie and a truth.

She walked around the stage, ignoring her still searing thighs and the pounding of her heart. Holding out her wrist, she focused her aura. Her shield shook feebly like a leaf before flying towards her and attaching itself to her metal bracer. Her arm was pushed back from the force, and her arm lit up in pain, but she bit it down. Her javelin soon followed her shield, flying towards her wrist before she caught it in the opposite hand, the hardened calluses on her hands pushing against the metal pole roughly.

"Uh…whatcha doing?" Jaune spoke up, approaching the stage. Pyrrha pretended she didn't hear him.

"Repeat previous failed rou-"she called out before she was once again interrupted by Jaune.

"Woah, woah, woah!" Jaune burst out, jumping up onto the stage and walking around Pyrrha to face her. "What are you doing?"

"Jaune, I came here to train," Pyrrha said tiredly, holding back the fear she had for another round of tortuous combat. The mental benefits far outweighed the physical hell, as far as she was concerned. The very person she was trying to get off of her mind was standing before her, telling her to stop her efforts, leaving in more of a want for fighting than ever.

"Pyrrha, no offense, really, but you look like someone threw you into a blender, and then blew up the blender," Jaune said bluntly, not one for social tact.

"No offense taken…I think," Pyrrha began before entering a battle stance. "But could you please move off the stage? I wouldn't want you to get caught in the crossfire, so to speak."

Jaune blinked, full of disbelief at her stubbornness.

"You know, Ren's probably made breakfast by now," Jaune said, suddenly sounding casual. "I'd hate for Nora to eat _all_ of the pancakes he made for us, but if you'd rather train than eat pancakes…" he trailed off, a trying smile plastered on his face.

Pyrrha paused, looking off to the side. Jaune's smile slowly slipped from his face as the silence stretched between them.

"Could I try rephrasing that?" Jaune asked rhetorically in a small voice. "Do you want to stay here make me worry like heck about you, or do you want to go eat pancakes with your team?"

He didn't want to guilt her with his concern, but guilt tripping her seemed more desirable an option than letting her stay and continue to put herself in harm's way.

Pyrrha remained silent for a horrible minute, her mind playing out a civil war. She could leave and be forced to let her thoughts creep back in, to let her emotions slowly torture her. She could stay until her bones broke, letting pain and focus engulf her and shut out her conflicted feelings. She could let herself worry over Jaune worry over her until it broke both of them, or throw herself head first into a foreign land of passion and confusion. She could box herself into her safe world of the known, or let herself free from her cage and into a world of both promising and terrifying unknowns. She was silent for too long. Jaune took a step towards her and outstretched a hand as if to place it on her shoulder.

Pyrrha pulled away and turned around, walking off the stage, leaving Jaune's arm suspended in the air.

"…Pyrrha?" Jaune called in confusion out as she walked towards the exit of the training hall. Pyrrha just turned around and gave him her new conflicted smile.

"Are you coming, Jaune?"


	4. Catching A Glimpse

"And so there we were...surrounded by Ursa..."

Ren stared at Nora impassively for a prolonged moment before shaking his head and moving his attention to cutting his pancakes. He'd interrupted her for over a month...might as well see where she would go with this if unburdened by Ren's factual input.

Pyrrha looked oddly invested in Nora's story, leaning forwards and resting her chin on her intertwined fingers, her elbows on the table. Jaune didn't seem to notice, and simply ate his pancakes happily, both from the undeniable elite pancakes that Ren had made, and from the fact that today was going to be an easy one for him and his team.

Since nearly the entirety of the students attending Beacon, as well as the professors,had left for their missions, and Team JNPR still had a week to wait before they could visit a nearby town to shadow a sheriff, they had no commitments. No classes, no required combat training, and no putting yourself in immediate danger of a Beowolf's claws.

Jaune was particularly happy with that last bit.

"Thousands of them!" Nora shouted, standing up and slamming her hands down on the table, startling absolutely nobody on her team, though they all did raise an eyebrow at the amount of Ursa.

"Thousands?" Jaune asked through a mouthful of pancake. Ren looked at him and shook his head, as if to say, 'Just let it happen'.

"Thousands I say!" Nora declared, throwing her arms to the sky. "All of them were riding on the back of Nevermores, and those Nevermores were carrying Deathstalkers in their claws!"

Pyrrha focused on what Nora had said as hard as she could, trying to envision the ridiculous sight as vividly as possible. The individual hairs of the thousands of Ursa, each feather of the Nevermores, each of the eyes of the Deathstalkers, and every detail in between. It was complicated and required a lot of concentration to create a perfect mental picture in her mind, something Pyrrha needed more than anything at the moment, what with the object of her newfound affections sitting directly to the right of her.

"Pyrrha, are you feeling alright?"

Pyrrha blinked, bringing herself back into reality, and instinctively turned her head to the source of the voice: Ren. With his attention away from Nora's story, for the most part, he had noticed the look of intense focus on Pyrrha's face, and was searching her face with a vaguely concerned look written on his own.

While Pyrrha was happy that Jaune hadn't been the one to call her out, that happiness flew out the window as she felt his eyes on her. Just out of the corner of her eye, on the edge of her peripherals, she could see that Ren's observation had caught Jaune's attention. She started picking at her pancake, trying to seem casual. Before she could prepare an excuse, however, Jaune spoke up.

"Cut her some slack, Ren," Jaune said, waving his fork dismissively. "She was training since five in the morning. If I'd gotten as far on the practice rounds as she had, I'd be pretty out of it too."

Ren opened his mouth as if to say that her look hadn't been one of exhaustion or disinterest, and rather one of focus, but then he glanced at Pyrrha.

Pyrrha, to the untrained eye, looked as if nothing was the matter with her. But to Ren, her emotions were laid out clearly on her face, and evident in her body language. Her lips were just slightly curled into her mouth, her eyes gravitated away from Jaune whenever possible, her arms had left the table and were now crossed over her chest, she was shifting in her seat, and she was leaning just slightly away backwards, away from the table.

Pyrrha didn't want to be called out on her behavior. It would force her to have a conversation about just why she was acting like she was; a conversation that could lead to her saying something or her teammates finding something out that she would rather keep to herself. At least, that's what Ren had picked up on. Just what she was hiding was as clear to him as mud. The only idea he had as to what her behavior pertained to Jaune in some way or another.

If she really was just tired, she wouldn't be worried about people talking about how tired she was. Ren could decide to pursue this topic and force Pyrrha to confront it, or at the very least for her to come up with some excuse, or...

Ren frowned lightly and shrugged before turning to Nora.

"You were saying?" he asked blandly. Nora smiled widely, jumping right back into her story.

"So, the Nevermores dropped the Deathstalkers down, and they started to chase us, and then the Ursas started jumping off the Nevermores to dive bomb us, and then the..." Nora went on without stopping for breath, her entire body moving animatedly and hyperactively as she wove her tale. Pyrrha let out a nearly imperceptible sigh of relief. She listened intently to Nora's story for a minute or two before glancing idly at Ren.

He was staring directly into her eyes, his pink irises burning into her soul. Pyrrha felt a cold hand wrap around her heart before Ren looked back to his pancakes as if nothing had happened. But Pyrrha knew better than to assume that they had just caught eyes coincidentally.

 _Ren was onto her._

* * *

 **A/N: Short chapter, sorry about that, tired, longer chapter tomorrow, maybe, I dunno, gonna sleep now.**


	5. Advice

" _Semblance is the manifestation of one's innate and personal power as an ability unique to each individual, with the effects varying greatly from user to user. The nature of one's Semblance is noted as representing an aspect of their character. However, a person's Semblance can be similar to-"_

Pyrrha's eyes trailed dreamily over the print of her textbook, seeing but not reading. At the moment, her mind was far too preoccupied. She glanced idly Jaune, who was sitting across from her at the library table, reading what appeared to be a large comic book. Her gaze carved its path through the gentle curve of his lips, the dorky smile that she had come to know and endear. Jaune reached up to brush his hair out of his eyes, briefly tilting his head up, and Pyrrha quickly returned her eyes to her book, not wanting to be caught staring.

Even if his attention was off of her, even if he wasn't nearly as close to her in proximity as they had been in the past, Pyrrha still felt unbearably and delightfully warm by his very presence. She gulped before sighing quietly, her entire body shuddering.

It was too much. This was too new, too strange. Both her physical and mental state were completely indescribable to her; she didn't if she wanted to let this tension within her build ceaselessly, keeping the awful strain while retaining the joyous warmth, or to try doing something about it and risk losing everything.

Jaune chuckled at his comic.

Pyrrha nearly had a heart attack.

She took a deep breath, trying to calm herself. Jaune looked up from his comic at her curiously, briefly smiling at her before returning his attention to the graphic novel. Pyrrha did the same with her own book. Anything that could occupy her thoughts would be more bearable than thinking of Jaune's smile, or how he stood up for himself to Cardin instead of betraying their friendship, or how he kept her company at the dance, holding her close in his arms as they spun-

Pyrrha blinked, then growled in frustration. She had flipped through a full ten pages of her book, but had read absolutely nothing. Irritated, she shut the textbook and pushed it to the side of the desk. Jaune looked up once again, as taken out of his reading experience as Pyrrha was with hers.

Well, maybe not quite as much.

"Pyrrha, are you okay?" Jaune asked somewhat timidly, not wanting to overstep any bounds.

"Yes, I'm fine. Why do you ask?" Pyrrha asked almost immediately. She knew that Jaune would voice his concerns. After all that they'd been through, the dance particularly, Jaune had seemed almost too eager to come to Pyrrha's aid, no matter what the situation. He was only trying to make up for how thick he'd been in continuing to batter the fact that Pyrrha wasn't asked to the dance over and over again, even if it wasn't his intent.

Pyrrha was appreciative of his attention in most any situation, but in this particular one, it was the last thing she wanted. It was also the first thing that she wanted, but she didn't know if she _should_ want it, or if she had the right to want so much of his attention.

"Oh, uh, no reason," Jaune said, stepping back from the conversation. Pyrrha inwardly screamed at herself. Her quick answer had come off as irritated and annoyed. Granted, she was irritated and annoyed, just not at him. She was only irritated and annoyed at herself, and her ceaseless indulgent thoughts of her leader.

"Thank you, Jaune," Pyrrha added after a pause between them. "But I really am fine. I just...have a lot on my mind, I suppose."

"Do you want to talk about it?"

Pyrrha paused. That was an invitation. She didn't have to bring it up out of the blue, because he just gave her an in. All she had to do was articulate feelings that she couldn't even begin to understand into the English language, and hope that it didn't completely ruin their relationship that they had been building through hours of after class sparing, nights of study sessions, and months of being on the same team which they would have to share for a whole four years.

Yeah. That's all.

"Not now, but perhaps later, if, um...if I'm feeling up to it," Pyrrha worded carefully. Jaune, now that the conversational line had been drawn, just nodded with a supportive smile.

Pyrrha burned from within, and her legs shook under the table, despite how hard she was trying to not let her emotions show outwardly. She didn't trust herself to speak with Jaune further, or even be near him the time being. Pushing her seat back, she got up, desperately trying to keep her legs from shivering.

"I'm going to get another book," she excused herself, giving Jaune one last conflicted smile before walking towards one of them many aisles of bookshelves. As soon as she turned around, her face fell, her forced smile wilting into a frown of distress.

As she walked between the bookshelves, she felt her heart become more isolated with every step she took, every inch she put between herself and Jaune turning her insides into ice. The cold spread throughout her body, and it was only until she was completely out of sight from Jaune that she allowed herself to crack. She leaned her back against the side of a bookshelf and slid down to the floor, groaning from the back of her throat and shutting her eyes as her walls fell.

"Ahem."

Pyrrha looked up quickly, afraid that Jaune had walked over. Instead, she saw Ren standing in front of her. His arms were crossed, and his face held no trace of a smile nor a frown. As ever, he was a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma.

"Oh, um, hello again Ren!" she said cheerfully, her position betraying her false tone. Ren didn't say a word, instead deciding to sit down next to her. Pyrrha continued, "Where is Nora?"

"She went to the bathroom," Ren answered briefly before sitting down next to his teammate. Pyrrha hummed in acknowledgement, suddenly realizing that not only did she not know Ren well enough to carry on a conversation, but also that this was probably the only time he'd seen him apart from Nora. He didn't seem to be too bothered by it, given his flat expression.

A silence stretched between them for a while, and from in Pyrrha's honest opinion, Ren most definitely wouldn't be the one to break it. However, just as she was about to say something, Ren did just that.

"Has Nora ever told you how long we've been friends?" he said, looking straight ahead. Pyrrha took the innocent topic in stride, having been worried that he was going to confront her on what had happened during breakfast.

"No, but from the way you two get on, I'm sure it's been quite a while."

Ren readjusted himself before answering; his hands sat idly in his lap, one of his legs was nearly flat against the ground, the other was pulled up, and his head leaning back against the bookshelf. His face remained nearly expressionless.

"Two months ago, we knew each other for exactly twelve years," he revealed unceremoniously. "We've known each other for nearly three quarters of our lives."

"I'm glad you've had such a long standing friendship," Pyrrha said, honestly impressed. Her longest standing friend was probably...

...Jaune. Huh.

"There were a few times when I wasn't sure it was a friendship," he said quietly.

"What?" Pyrrha uttered, perplexed at the unexpected bomb he had just dropped on her.

"I know how Nora feels," Ren disclosed. Never once did his expression falter. "Sometimes, I think I feel the same way. Sometimes, I think that I should take a step forwards in our friendship...or out of it. I can be myself around her. She's exactly what I need in my life, a unique and irreplaceable part of it."

He turned his head to Pyrrha, finally meeting eyes with her.

"But I know my place."

"Ren, I-I...I don't-" Pyrrha stuttered. Ren resumed speaking between one of her pauses in speech.

"Just because someone is your best friend, just because you feel at home when with someone, even if it seems like taking the next step with someone would be an obvious progression of your relationship...none of that means that step should be taken. If I'm sure of one thing, it's that the feelings Nora has for me are not mutual. She's like a sister to me: a home away from home."

Ren stood up and leaned his back against the wall, his arms crossed. As he gazed down at Pyrrha, slight shreds of emotions made their way onto his face: pity, unwavering confidence, and most evidently, sympathy. Having conflicted feelings over a best friend was something he could most definitely relate to.

"Are you...a-are you telling me to-"

"I'm not telling you to do anything," Ren clarified, shrugging. "But if you're going to do anything, do it with conviction. Otherwise, you're taking a risk you can't afford."

On that grim note, Ren walked away, leaving Pyrrha to to her thoughts.

* * *

 **A/N: Yeah, I know, Ren doesn't talk a lot, but I feel like if any subject would open him up, it'd be the one he just discussed.**


End file.
